Dr Norman Swan

speaker

26,995 appearances 288 recordings 3 series first heard Apr 2006 last heard 15 Sep

Dr Norman Swan’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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What's That Rash? · Ashwagandha: what's the evidence? · 21 Jul 2026 podcast

Cell death, natural cell death.

And some cancers, if not all cancers, and a lot of this work has been done at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, at least some cancers are a failure of natural cell death.

So cells are born, cells live, do their job, and then cells die.

And apoptosis is one of the processes that gets rid of cells in that natural cycle.

And when apoptosis fails, the risk is that you get cancer.

And in the test tube, ashwagandha preparations seem to induce apoptosis, which in theory could help if you already have a tumor.

Well, what we know from reviews of the evidence – and you've got to be careful with reviews of the evidence because reviews of the evidence bring together the available studies.

But when the available studies lack credibility or lack methodological rigor, you're just adding up errors in your systematic review.

A lot of the research has been done in India, as you might imagine.

This is not particular to India.

There are plenty of lousy randomized control trials done all over the world.

But a lot of the research into ashwagandha is not necessarily standardized to preparations.

There are small studies, difficult to measure outcomes.

The placebo is not necessarily a true placebo, if indeed there's a placebo at all.

because the ashwagandha itself causes side effects, and it's possible to recognize when you're taking it versus placebo.

So when you look at that methodological rigor, some of these studies really start to fall apart.

Nonetheless, there's been West Australian research, U.S.

research.

which have tried to standardize for the preparation of ashwagandha and seem to find signals of positive effects on stress, anxiety, depression, even food cravings.

And again, how can you say that about one thing?

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